Alien Breed

I check out the half-constructed property, peering in each room with a thin flashlight. There’s nothing of importance.

I run toward Hugh and Roy, dropping to the soil as I make it to their knees. Immediately, I untie them.

Both startle as they wake.

“No, not again,” Hugh mutters.

Roy groans and rolls his head forward. Blood drips down to his thighs. “Naomi? That you?”

I try not to get emotional, but as much as they are Halloway’s crew, they’re also my crew. For a long and hellish year, they were my family.

“Yes, it’s me,” I whisper.

At first, Roy laughs, excitedly. But as soon as he’s free, he turns morose. “You shouldn’t have come back for us,” he says. “There’s no telling where Fassbender ran off to this time.”

I help Hugh into his chair. He seems to agree with Roy. “We don’t have much time. Did you find the fuel?” he asks.

I drop back and glare at Halloway. It’s not his fault, but my subconscious blames him.

“Not yet,” I say. “We’ll find it. Soon enough.”

Roy sighs and rubs a gash on his head. “I can’t believe you’re alive,” he says. “How’d you do it? How’d you kill the alien?”

I swallow and feel my cheeks turn hot. It’s one thing to tell Halloway, but the other guys… will they understand our love?

Will anyone, except for us?

“I need to tell you something, but I can’t take you two freaking out on me,” I say.

Hugh rolls toward the Captain. “Hey, Halloway, what in God’s name is all over you?”

Roy looks back and forth, from the Captain to me. He pieces it together faster than I thought he might.

“You didn’t,” he says.

“I don’t know what that’s supposed to insinuate,” I say.

“You befriended the alien,” Roy says, appearing to know it all. “I mean, how else would you be here right now? It’s either that, or you killed the beast, but I highly doubt you’d take that route.”

“And why would you doubt that?” I ask.

“Because you dropped your gun back there. And I know you, Naomi. I know what happened to you. You aren’t a killer,” he says.

Rage. Sadness. Pain.

I’m getting hit from every direction. My love has been taken from me, forced into torturous submission by Zakar. All of this is just a little too much to handle.

I’m trying.

But it’s breaking me.

“I’m pregnant,” I blurt out.

All eyes focus on me. Even the Captain is staring with his mouth open.

Roy steps away from me. “You’re… what?”

“Pregnant,” I repeat, staring at the ground.